Now to England, and a short presentation on His Majesty King Edward VII Edward is always missed out because he didnt even rule England for a Decade. He succeeded from Queen Victoria, who died in 1901....and he himself was dead by 1910

Soooo noone really has very much to say about him. He wasnt Victoria, and he didnt lead England through either of the Great Wars...he was just space between one and the other

We go on a trip to Uganda and African Country which emerged from the British Empire. Whilst it was in the Empire, it was not a unified country but several smallish states. The largest of which was a Kingdom whose King was called Mutesa II at the time the British granted Freedom. He became President, but General Idi Amin launched a coup against him and the King fled into Exhile

King Ferdinand I of Romania. Generally unspectacular in comparison to some Romanian Leaders of old. But he did have the courage to stand against Germany in the first world war. He died just before the rise of the Nazi party in Germanys 1930s

The King Of Bhutan who I posted about in a different thread and inspired me to make a thread like this...we have more news from him.

You will remember that his Father was the last of a few rullers all with the same name who ran their country as a dictatorship and survived near nepal, tibet, china and india. Fearing that George Bush would call his country evil and add it to the list he performed his own Revolution, whereby following a lot of religious oppression, he relaxed his grip, and cleared the jungles of terroristic activites, before abdicating and allowing his Son to rule. All that happened this century. I doubt George Bush ever heard of Bhutan...but it was a prick in the conscience.

Anyway, his Son now rules...and He has just got Married to a lovely Bride

The King Of Bhutan who I posted about in a different thread and inspired me to make a thread like this...we have more news from him.

You will remember that his Father was the last of a few rullers all with the same name who ran their country as a dictatorship and survived near nepal, tibet, china and india. Fearing that George Bush would call his country evil and add it to the list he performed his own Revolution, whereby following a lot of religious oppression, he relaxed his grip, and cleared the jungles of terroristic activites, before abdicating and allowing his Son to rule. All that happened this century. I doubt George Bush ever heard of Bhutan...but it was a prick in the conscience.

Anyway, his Son now rules...and He has just got Married to a lovely Bride

__________________"Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."
--Hugh Latimer, October 16, 1555

King Leopold III of Belgium was of the house of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, which incidently still rules by blood both in Belgium AND in England. Yousee that House was the name of Prince Albert who married Queen Victoria. When he died she was so mournful she declaired her own house of hanover was over and that her children would bear her beloveds name.

The reason that Queen Elizabeth is not called Saxe-Coburg Gotha is one of title, and not blood. Technically speaking she is still a blood relative within the house of Saxe-Coburg Gotha...but during the time between wars, her Grandfather, King George did a clever thing and changed his surname by deedpoll because he thought it too Germanic! Instead he decided all his future heirs would be named after his favourite Castle...hence Windsor

You can clearly see that King Leopold and Queen Astrid of Sweeden, were very much in love. Sadly, this story has an unhappy ending for both. A year after his succession to the throne of Belgium, in 1935, the pair went on holiday to switzerland. There was a car crash and the royal car ended up in the lake. Queen Astrid was carrying the Fourth heir at the time, and both she and her unborn child were killed.

Mindful of the expansion of German Imperialism, King Leopold fortified and believed that he had adequet sources to stave off an invasion from Germany, so he turned down the application to join the allied forces and instead declared himself neutral. He was very sorely mistaken, and the third reich descended on the neatherlands and washed through his land.

The Government decided to flee to Paris, anything rather then surrender to Adolf Hitler, but being a military man, and a soldier in the first world war, King Leopold refused to go. This made the Government very angry, they fled to france whereupon they accused him of treason as soon as he had been forced to surrender. They claimed he had acted unconstitutionally and they wanted a new King.

Leo was arrested by the Germans and taken before Adolf Hitler. Leo had two things to say to Hitler which would clear him post the war of charges of Treason. The first was that he would not do any form of governance under the Nazi banner, and secondly, he wanted his Kingdom and its independance back.

Herr Hitler declined to aquiest to his requests

Unfortunate circumstances left Leopold in exhile after the war for six years because as the Germans began to withdraw they took their prisoners with them. Which included Leopold and his second wife (they married in secret of course) So he was aghast to find by the time the United States Army had liberated him in Switzerland his Government had popped home from France and changed the locks they didnt want him back.

Or rather...some of them did and some of them didnt...infact Belgium ended up in civil crisis with uprisings so bad they had to do a referendum, and Leopold won...but with only 57 percent of the vote, the unrest continued after his return until 1951 when to stop all out civil war, he abdicated.

King Leopold III died the year after I was born. He lies in rest between his two wives perhaps not a sad ending after all...six children, three to each wife succeeds him...one of his Grandchildren sits upon his Throne this day

This is Vietnamese King Thanh Thai His Father was murdered after a mere three days on the Throne. The French Authorities interveined to put his Son back onto the Throne for a short reign in the early 1900s

Thanh Thai was a tiny bit to clever for his own good. He sought a ballencing act between appeasing the people and trying to act submissive to the French.

He desperately wanted freedom and loved his people, but he had to keep an eye out for the French. He tried to pass himself off as a dumbass so he could work both sides, and eventually the French saw through this and banished him.